Thomas A. Castillo is Associate Professor of History at Coastal Carolina University. This interview is based on his book, Working in the Magic City: Moral Economy in Early Twentieth-Century Miami (University of Illinois Press, 2022). JF: What led you to...
Watch: Cruz seems to be on the ropes here, but then the reporter mentions “American exceptionalism.” Ah! There it is! Cruz pounces. You can almost see the light bulb (or perhaps the trigger) go off in his head. He now...
William Novak is Charles F. and Edith J. Clyne Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. This interview is based on his new book, New Democracy: The Creation of the Modern American State (Harvard University Press, 2022)....
Gene Zubovich is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Buffalo. This interview is based on his new book, Before the Religious Right: Liberal Protestants, Human Rights, and the Polarization of the United States (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). JF:...
Here is Yue Stella Yu at the Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wants schools to teach “unapologetic American exceptionalism” — an idea that American values are intrinsically different from those of other countries. Touting Tennessee’s education standards, Lee made the comment...
Andrew Lang is Associate Professor of History and Graduate Coordinator at Mississippi State University. This interview is based on his new book, A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era (The University of...
Bloomsburg writer Mihir Sharma says that Americans shouldn’t get so uptight about apparent threats to their democracy. Maybe sometimes we need an international voice to help us keep things in perspective. Here is a taste of Sharma’s piece, “World shouldn’t...
In this episode we talk about the connections between liberal Protestantism, American foreign policy, and the Cold War in mid-20th-century America. We discuss these themes through an examination of the life of former U.S. Secretary of State (1953-1959) John Foster...
Our guest in this episode is Abram Van Engen, author of City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism. He helps us make sense of the phrase “city on a hill” in John Winthrop’s famous 1630 sermon A Model of...
Anthropologist and public intellectual Wade Davis asks if the era of American exceptionalism is over. For your consideration: Read Davis’s Rolling Stone article here....
Needless to say, I was glad to see Abram Van Engen of Washington University in St. Louis critique the way Os Guinness, Eric Metaxas, and David Barton are manipulating the American past. I also appreciate his shoutout to the Conference...
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? John Hagee invited Fox News commentator, conspiracy theorist, disgraced Christian college president, and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza to speak at the Sunday evening service at his Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnd5fMkIaA&w=560&h=315]...
A lot of conservatives liked Trump’s speech on Friday night. I am told that The Wall Street Journal gave it a positive review. I commented on the speech here, but I thought I would say a few more things about Trump’s...
Johann Neem is an important voice in our defense of American institutions, civil society, and an educated citizenry. Here is a taste of his recent piece at The Washington Post: “The Next Victim of the Coronavirus: American Exceptionalism.” The rise of...
Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9WWSXNH6cY&w=560&h=315]...
Martin Spence is Associate Professor of History at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is writing for us this weekend at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in New York City. Enjoy his latest post. –JF The...
One of the most enduring phrases at the heart of American exceptionalism is John Winthrop’s famous proclamation that the Puritan colonists were establishing a “city upon a hill.” But the story of this lay sermon is much more complicated, and,...
Daniel Rodgers is Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. This interview is based on his new book As a City on a Hill: The Story of America’s Most Famous Lay Sermon (Princeton University Press, 2018). JF: What led you to...
Donald Akenson is Douglas Professor of Canadian and Colonial History at Queen’s University. This interview is based on his new book Exporting the Rapture: John Nelson Darby and the Victorian Conquest of North-American Evangelicalism (Oxford University Press, 2018). JF: What led you to...
Today I will be teaching John Winthrop’s sermon A Model of Christian Charity to the teachers in the Princeton Seminar. You may know this as the famous “city upon a hill” sermon. Winthrop’s words have been used by several U.S presidents...
